But the Rev. Dr. Eileen W. Lindner also notes
that religious groups disagree on what kind of reform is necessary, and she
questions whether significant numbers of Americans are influenced by what
religious leaders say.

Lindner's essay in the 79th edition of The
Yearbook is part two of a
theme chapter that appeared in the 2010 Yearbook. The earlier essay explored
the profound impact on religious communities of a new wave of immigration since
1965. The current editorial examines the role of American churches in
advocating immigration reform, and tells how U.S. religious bodies are now
engaged in ministry to immigrant communities.

Traditionally,
evangelical churches in the U.S. tended to oppose a relaxation of
immigration enforcement laws, and resisted amnesty proposals for
undocumented aliens already living in the U.S.

More recently, evangelicals, like
Protestant Catholic and Jewish groups, have begun to call for comprehensive
immigration reform. Major religious bodies voicing support are the National Association of Evangelicals,
the Southern Baptist Convention and Mormons.

Just how closely Americans are listening to
their religious leaders' voices is another matter, Lindner said.

Lindner writes: "According to the Pew study,
only seven percent of Americans identify religious leaders as a source for
their own thinking about immigration policy ... When contrasted with the role of religious
leadership in forming public opinion on other matters of public affairs even
such early findings are a cause for sober reflection."

But even as religious groups come closer to
agreement on the need for immigration reform, other factors -- including the
aftermath pf the September 11, 2001 terror attacks -- complicate the
debate. Since 9/11, Americans tend to see immigration reform "in a
wider context of national security."

In addition, Arizona's controversial 2010
immigration law, enacted in response to fears of drug trafficking and
terrorism, attracted national attention. "In such a climate of threat,
resources to inform rational, calm, and morally defensible policy may be in
short supply," writes Lindner.

Too, the continuing economic downturn, which
has seriously reduced revenues to religious institutions, has diminished
immigrations policy to just another item on a larger list of issues of
church concerns, including health care, education, housing and income
support, Lindner says. "The leadership within religious bodies will be
tested in balancing the theological demand to extend hospitality to the
alien with attention to the self-preservation instincts of their members to
assure safety and security within their homes."

Ultimately, the type of mission and ministry
religious bodies undertake effects the policy stance they take on
immigration, Lindner writes.

"Those who work in educational programs are likely to wish
to see strengthened education provisions in new immigration policy. Those
who work with exploited immigrant workers are likely to provide strong
support for the inclusion of worker safeguards in immigration legislation,"
she writes.

Lindner offers four observations for future research and
study:

• Given the growing political,
economic and environmental instability globally the next quarter century is
likely to be characterized by increasing pressure leading to greater numbers
of migrant peoples worldwide. Such wide-scale social upheaval is likely to
create the need for continuous policy debate within and among the nations.

• The effectiveness of religious
advocacy for immigration reform and the nature of that advocacy will provide
a practical means for assessing the role of religious communities in these
debates and must be closely observed and analyzed as a measure of
contemporary religious moral authority.

• Ministries and mission with and
for immigrant communities within the U.S. may well become a prominent
expression of domestic mission for decades to come. As church-sponsored
“settlement houses” proliferated at the close of the 19th century and
beginning of the 20th, so too will immigrant ministries shape domestic
mission endeavors in the 21st century. The nature of these ministries and
the measure of their effectiveness in achieving their respective aims will
be important, and should be appropriately documented.

• American religious bodies and
their advocacy for immigration reform will be carefully scrutinized by both
ecumenical and interfaith organizations throughout the world. In an era of
instantaneous communication and heightened religious sensitivity the role of
immigration reform activities and its consequences for deepening such
relationships may provide new opportunities for collaboration.

Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of
the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for
shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC's
37 member communions -- from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican,
Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace
churches -- include 45 million persons in more than 100,000 local
congregations in communities across the nation.